OIL workers who died when their helicopter ditched off Shetland were let down by pre-flight safety briefings which gave a "false impression" about emergency breathing equipment, investigators have said.
A special bulletin by the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) said investigators were concerned the briefing material "does not include fully representative information about emergency breathing systems (EBS)".
Four people died when the Super Puma crashed and capsized in the North Sea on August 23 last year. Three of those who lost their lives - Sarah Darnley, 45, from Elgin, Duncan Munro, 46, from Bishop Auckland, and George Allison, 57, from Winchester - died as a result of drowning, according to their death certificates. The fourth fatality, Gary McCrossan, 59, from Inverness, suffered heart failure.
They were among 18 passengers and crew on board the helicopter, which was making its way from the Borgsten Dolphin oil and gas platform to Sumbugh Airport on Shetland on a Friday night, when it ditched around 6.20pm.
Air accident investigators have blamed the crash on a reduction in air speed which was not noticed by the crew. No technical fault with the aircraft has been detected.
However, the AAIB has now also highlighted shortcomings in pre-flight training, noting that in 60% of helicopter crashes on water the aircraft overturns.
In the bulletin published yesterday it says: "The EBS can bridge the gap between the breath-hold time of an occupant and the time required to complete an underwater escape, thereby increasing the chances of survival.
"EBS were introduced in UK North Sea offshore helicopter operations as a voluntary industry standard; at present there is no regulatory requirement for such equipment."
There are three types of breathing equipment in use by the industry, but the AAIB said safety briefings could lead oil workers to confuse different types.
They include compressed air systems with a mouthpiece - similar to the type of equipment used by scuba divers - and rebreather systems, which allow the user to rebreathe the air contained in their lungs by breathing into a bag before they enter the water. A third piece of equipment, the hybrid system, combines the rebreather and compressed air system.
The hybrid system is commonly used in the offshore industry in the form of a life-jacket incorporating emergency breathing equipment.
Offshore helicopter passengers are required to complete initial and repeated training on the operation of EBS, and safety videos are also shown prior to every flight as a refresher.
However, the AAIB said this pre-flight material was not "fully representative" about the use of EBS.
The special bulletin stated: "It does not highlight that the EBS provided may be a hybrid rebreather containing an air supply which is discharged automatically into the rebreather bag, or that the system can be used even if the wearer has not taken a breath before becoming submerged.
"Incomplete information in the pre-flight safety briefing material may give passengers the false impression that hybrid rebreathers such as the widely used LAP system are only of benefit if the user has taken a breath prior to becoming submerged.
"Knowledge that hybrid rebreathers contain their own supply of air may therefore influence a passenger's decision on whether or not to use the EBS in an emergency situation."
AAIB has now approached helicopter operators working in the offshore industry to raise concerns about pre-flight training, which is now being modified.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article